Wonder Woman of the Week: Fatu Kekula

This week’s WWoW comes a tad late because I have been struggling with a bit of a cold, but this week’s Wonder Woman makes me look like a sissy-nanny complaining about a paper cut. Twenty-two year old Fatu Kekula nursed her father, mother, sister, and cousin while they all suffered from Ebola- a disease a tad more dangerous than the common cold.

I do not consider myself a medical expert, but when I say that only one of Fatu’s patients died from Ebola, everyone around the world should stop and praise this woman. Ebola- at least in Western African nations like the joint Kekula comes from- has a death rate of 70%- much higher than the 24% rocking in her bedside hospital. What is even more remarkable is that this superhero stayed healthy the whole time, which is something nurses in the US and Spain are having a hard time with- and they all had hazmat suits.

Unfortunately Fatu does not have a Kryptonian immune system. What she does have however is intelligence (dat brain though!). She was in her final year of nursing school while treating her patients at home, so she used what she knew and made up the rest. Kekula created a make-shift hazmat suit out of a trashbag. Several times per day, Fatu disposed of her suit and replaced it with a new- less Ebolaish- one and continued her work.

The whole nightmare began when the community hospital shut down after nurses started dying from the disease. People all over the community could no longer receive any medical aid, so Faut Kekula took matter into her own five glove wearing hands. She kept her patients alive until another hospital finally brought them in and Fatu’s work was finished. Her cousin died in the hospital, but Fatu’s parents and sister survived- all thanks to Fatu’s work.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/25/health/ebola-fatu-family/